


Well Read

by TottWriter



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Avid Reader Suga, Fluff and Humor, Library AU, M/M, Reader of Smut that is, Suggestive Themes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-01
Updated: 2018-05-01
Packaged: 2019-04-30 16:57:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,646
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14501475
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TottWriter/pseuds/TottWriter
Summary: Daichi is a librarian. Suga will be the death of him.





	Well Read

**Author's Note:**

> So, this is apparently what happens when I run into a creative wall and ask for prompts from my friends. The prompt responsible for this disaster was "Daichi working as a librarian and Suga checks out exclusively erotica every week", for which I can only thank V profusely.

Generally, whenever Daichi told someone that he worked in the city library, the reply he got was along the lines of: “Oh, you must love reading then!”

…Which, yes. He did. The thing about working with books all day was that in order to _get_ to that point, you typically had to have something of a passion for them. Being a librarian was a trained profession—it wasn’t as though he’d picked the job out on a whim.

But it was such an _unimaginative_ thing to say. Such a token response which missed the nuances of the job and its appeal. Because yes, he loved books, but he also loved _recommending_ books. Being in a position where he could share that love with other people. Seeing other people, and the books they chose, and watching young children work their way up from picture books and stickers into avid readers.

Well, perhaps that last one was more an anticipatory thing. He’d only been qualified for a couple of years, after all. The children who visited hadn’t had all that much time to grow into bookworms just yet. Still. One of the very much underrated perks of the job wasn’t the books at all. It was the people who read them. It was the fun of trying to piece their characters together from what they checked out, and how often they visited.

There were the little old ladies whose visits were like clockwork, governed by bus timetables and the Thursday afternoon book club. There were students who waltzed in and out any time following school hours, but tended to gather in greater numbers during adverse weather, browsing casually to give some sort of excuse to their presence other than wanting a dry place to stand. There were the young parents and their assorted offspring who flocked to Reading Time on a Monday or Friday morning, clogging the children’s section with prams. Saturdays, and Sunday mornings were filled with those who couldn’t make it during the working week, usually sauntering in just before lunchtime and creating a huge queue as they checked out their reading material for next week’s commute.

And then…then there were the Names. The individuals who stuck out from the regular archetypes, for good or for ill.

Moniwa, a small, mild-mannered man who always returned books a week late with a frantic set of desperate apologies and well-meaning but empty promises that it wouldn’t happen again. Shirofuku, who had left enough crumbs between the pages of her returned books that they probably added up to a whole loaf. Iwaizumi, who apparently stopped off at the library at the end of his morning jog because he was always wearing a tracksuit and still catching his breath as he entered.

Finally, last but by no means least, there was Sugawara Koushi.

Daichi wasn’t quite sure when Sugawara had started visiting the library. He wasn’t one of the people he’d been warned about when starting. There were a list of names in the staffroom that the whole library staff were aware of, and stories predating his time there about thefts, damaged books, and even arson attempts at the overnight dropoff, and Sugawara’s name wasn’t associated with any of that.

At the same time, when Daichi had finally given in to temptation and looked up his lending history, the library card had been created four or five years ago, and somehow his reading history hadn’t changed significantly in that whole time. The mystery therefore was how, at some point shortly after Daichi started working the front desk, Sugawara had gone from being a below-the-radar sort of unusual reader to one of the most recognisable people during his working week.

The first time that Daichi remembered, it had just been one book. Probably he’d served him before that—after all, he had been working at the library for a few months by that time—but the first _memorable_ occasion was just the one, on a rainy Wednesday evening.

Sugawara was one of those effortlessly attractive people. Well, for all Daichi knew there _was_ effort behind it, but the general impression he got from looking at Sugawara was that the man’s thoughts lay elsewhere. He didn’t dress in anything that Daichi recognised as expensive or particularly stylish—there had been days he could have sworn he saw the hint of odd socks peeping out from beneath his jeans as he walked away, even—but somehow the overall effect of his appearance was…was… Well it was the sort of appearance which occasionally had Daichi firmly instructing himself to focus on his _job_ , dammit.

It was a situation only made worse by Sugawara’s reading preferences.

On that particular Wednesday, Daichi later realised, Sugawara had been looking particularly weary. It was strange how first impressions went, because afterwards he often had to remind himself that he hadn’t _known_ that at first. By the time Sugawara had become a regular feature of his working week, he’d come to know him for an almost offensively upbeat demeanour and level of cheer. Not so the first time he remembered meeting him.

The hair was plastered to Sugawara’s head by the rain. He _drooped_ , leaving a trail of water behind him as he made his way into the library despite the nondescript umbrella which he left at the entrance. Daichi had looked outside and confirmed that, yes, it was pretty much raining sideways.

Wednesdays was his late shift—there was no one else on duty. No one else to mop up the wet footprints then. Great.

As a result, by the time a silver-haired figured appeared at the desk, having trailed a good ten minutes’ worth of mopping around the library before his feet had apparently dried off enough, Daichi was not well disposed towards the man. Head hanging, book clutched to his chest with no library card in sight…oh, _great_ , he was going to fumble in his shoulder bag for it and take even longer, wasn’t he.

The book flagged up an age-check as he scanned it, and Daichi bit back a groan. Of course. Of course! Whatever else could go right that evening?

But that was where Sugawara diverged from the usual, run-of-the-mill nuisances which Daichi had learnt to loathe. Before he had time to ask, a driver’s license appeared in front of him and Sugawara lifted his head, looking somewhere past him at the back wall with a weary, bored expression on his face. His library card was held behind it, in the same hand, and after holding his ID up so that Daichi had time to make a comparison, he laid both on the counter next to the book, which turned out to have the eye-watering title: _‘Ridden Like A Cowboy, Hung Like A Stallion’_ written in ornate letters across the cover. It was accompanied by an illustration of a muscular man on a rearing horse, with a close up of another male face looming in one corner in one of the worst cover edits Daichi had seen in months.

He stayed silent as he scanned the library card, stamped the book, and slid both items back across the counter, keeping his eyes down. It wasn’t his job to judge, after all, and at the time he hadn’t expected to see the man again. It wasn’t often that he got stuck with the Wednesday evening shift.

Of course, that had been a complete nonsense of an assumption. He might as well have been cursing himself, because just a few weeks after that, Sugawara Koushi turned into one of the weekly regulars, as familiar as the young mums but _far_ less approachable.

Not…not that Daichi _needed_ to approach him, naturally. It was just that generally he prided himself on making conversation and engaging with library patrons, chatting about favourite books and seeing if he couldn’t recommend new ones. There was nothing quite like that satisfaction when he saw the smile on someone’s face as they returned a book they never would have read without his suggestion.

But there was absolutely no easy way to strike up a cheerful conversation, or even easily make eye contact with a man who was checking out such titles as: _'_ _At His Majesty’s Pleasure Zone’_ or _‘Muskets and Members’._

Daichi wasn’t a prude. The library had an erotica section, and it was a relatively well-populated one. You never could tell who was going to come up to the desk with a racy novel or two in their pile—often buried under one or two more staid titles which Daichi always privately believed were just a convenient disguise. Some people were more bold, and he had no problem smiling and joking with those visitors who shrugged or made light of their reading habits. But Sugawara never made eye contact. Never joked around or seemed bothered about hiding his choice of reading material. And he never checked anything _else_ out, either. It was just…well, _porn_. Week after week, as though he were on a mission to read every single book the library had in its collection.

To be fair to Sugawara, it wasn’t always Daichi who had to check the books out. During the busy periods, he often shared front desk duty with Shimizu, and from time to time it would be her who had to check the books out instead. Daichi had thought her nigh-unflappable until the third time he witnessed her checking out Sugawara’s choice for the week, after which she asked to be excused to the staff room for a moment.

She returned once the queue had been dealt with and the desk was quiet once more, thanking Daichi with a hand still covering her mouth.

“I’m afraid I really did need a moment,” she explained, gathering up a pile of returns. “I almost burst out laughing. I know it’s not at all professional, but…” She shook her head. “This time it was _‘Seeking Her: The Unchaste Chase’_. I really don’t know that I can handle much more of this. I didn’t even realise we _had_ that one.”

Daichi grinned. “Would it be inappropriate for me to say ‘different strokes…’” he began, trailing off as Shimizu snorted.

After recovering her composure she glared at him. “Stop it. No.”

“I’m just saying,” Daichi went on, shrugging. “It seems we have a demand. It’d be a shame not to cater to the needs of our patrons.”

“ _Y_ _ou_ can deal with that then,” Shimizu replied, shaking her head. “I’m not going to have that conversation at the next budget meeting.”

Daichi grinned, and slid a stack of books across the counter. “I’m sure he’ll change tack soon enough,” he said. “There can’t be _that_ many more.”

It was the sort of comment which, in hindsight, only ever _invited_ trouble. And, a few weeks later, just long enough after that he’d half forgotten the entire conversation, that trouble arrived in the form of Sugawara, who approached the front desk wearing a thin, well-fitted shirt with the top button undone and his jacket draped over one arm.

“Hi,” he said brightly, in response to Daichi’s query if he could help with anything. “I need to request a book.”

Daichi frowned. “I can check to see if we have what you’re looking for out on loan, or if a copy is held by another library in the district,” he said. “But we do charge for requests of that sort.”

“Fine with me,” Sugawara said, all smiles and charm. “The title’s _‘The Illustrated History of Sexual Intimacy’._ ”

Daichi didn’t choke, but it was a near-run thing. Rather than attempt to answer he simply nodded and typed it into the search window, turning the monitor so that Sugawara could see the results for himself.

“I…I can put in a request for it, as you can see,” he managed at last.

“That would be _wonderful_ ,” Sugawara replied. He leant forward slightly, meeting Daichi’s eyes as he smiled. “It’s a relief to know you can.”

It was a bad precedent and Daichi should have _known_ that, even if it wouldn’t have altered how he handled the situation. Still, at least it would have prepared him a little for the next wave of Sugawara’s apparent quest, in which he seemed to be working his way through all the erotica novels in every library in the district. And of course, none of the books were ever requested back by the other libraries, which led to their own erotica section growing enough that he had to rearrange the shelves slightly to fit them all in.

Stage four came along a little while later, with Sugawara bringing a short _stack_ of books to the desk each week. Apparently the growing erotica section was only encouraging him.

Daichi simply couldn’t understand it. It wasn’t as though Sugawara were old—his ID confirmed that he was only a few months older than Daichi himself. He could have read all the erotica he wanted on the internet, much as Daichi told himself that there was no way a librarian should be wishing a patron _away_ from the library.

But no. For some reason he kept coming back, week after week, to check out such literary masterpieces as _‘Forbidden Fornication’_ or _‘Sharing the Load: Twice the love, twice the fun!’_. Worse still, he did so with the sort of friendly smile Daichi usually saw on the faces of people greeting elderly people and agreeing that, yes, winters _weren’t_ anything like as bad as they used to be.

In a word, he was shameless. Shameless and relentless and both the highlight and torment of Daichi’s week, because while it was undeniably entertaining, and Sugawara was certainly friendly and charming and easy enough on the eyes, that didn’t explain _why_.

“Perhaps he’s flirting with you,” Shimizu suggested one Monday morning, as Daichi was going through the weekend’s returns.

Daichi gave her a flat look. “Flirting,” he said. “Flirting by checking out…” he lifted a book up, winced at the cover, and waved it around. “ _This?_ ”

“I never said he was flirting _well_ ,” Shimizu pointed out, and moved on to another topic.

But the damage was done. The idea was planted, and, much as with Sugawara’s taste for the raunchiest books the library could offer, it showed no signs of abating. Daichi found himself avoiding meeting Sugawara’s eyes while scanning the next round ( _‘Down The Shaft’, ‘Humped Back: Across the Desert’, ‘Illicit Affair’_ and _‘Stroke for Stroke’_ ). Daichi held his tongue, scanning and stamping them all without looking up and thereby risking Sugawara meeting his eyes.

“So what do you recommend next,” Sugawara said as he slid the pile towards him across the counter. “I was wondering if you had any suggestions, being a literary man yourself.”

Daichi choked on his own spittle, and looked up to see Sugawara grinning at him wickedly.

“What, you’re telling me you’ve never even flicked through any of these?” he remarked, apparently unconcerned that Daichi was still gasping for air. “I don’t believe that for a second.”

Daichi managed to catch his breath, and then cleared his throat meaningfully. “I’m afraid that’s not really an appropriate—”

“Ah, my apologies,” Sugawara remarked. “Perhaps another time then?”

“When you return these books, I will be no less at work than I am right now,” he pointed out.

This time, Sugawara’s smile was every bit as filthy as the books he had slipped into this bag.

“It could be when you’re not at work if you like,” he said, shrugging airily and having the audacity to _wink_. “You have my number on that computer. Give it a call sometime if you’re curious.”

“That’s not how data protection works,” Daichi called after him, but it was a late response, and a weak one at that.

Damn, and after those books he’d read, Sugawara was probably going to have _really_ high expectations, too.

 


End file.
